Electronic Arts Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd have teamed up to
draw developers to the Korean giant's fledgling apps store, offering
unusually strong financial incentives in hopes of expanding its library
of games.
EA's mobile games publishing division, Chillingo, will
spearhead "100% Indie," so named since Samsung will let independent
developers keep 100 percent of their revenue for six months, versus the
usual 30 percent cut offered by other platforms like Apple Inc.
The
program, which kicks off March 4, is aimed at increasing the edgier
indie fare along with more mainstream offerings like big hit "Angry
Birds," which got its start as an innovative indie-developed game.
After
the six months, developers give Samsung a 10 percent revenue cut and
keep the rest. The slice to Samsung rises to 20 percent the following
year, with the company taking 30 percent of revenue only after two
years, similar to Apple Inc's App Store and Google Inc's Google Play
deals.
Higher revenue-share cuts can be crucial for small outfits
struggling to stay afloat. Chillingo, acquired by Electronic Arts in
2010, published and discovered popular hits like "Angry Birds," which
has been downloaded over a billion times on mobile devices, and "Cut the
Rope".
"So anyone who joins the program can benefit from 100
percent revenue, which is unprecedented in our industry so far,"
Chillingo co-founder Chris Byatte said.
Samsung has overtaken
arch-rival Apple, the iPad and iPhone maker, as the world's top
smartphone seller. But Apple's App Store dominates the apps market as
developers say they generally earn more revenue on Apple than Android
devices.
Through this partnership, Samsung and Chillingo hope to
raise awareness among developers of Samsung Apps, the device maker's
apps marketplace, Joe Wee, co-founder of Chillingo said.
"Samsung is selling more phones than ever and content and hardware, they always go hand in hand," said Wee.
The
program is not exclusive, so developers who create new games for
Samsung can simultaneously publish them on Apple and other Android
devices or they can bring existing titles from other devices to Samsung
phones and tablets.
While the program is called "100% Indie,"
Chillingo wants to attract all developers - "the established ones, the
heavy-hitters to the one-man bands," Byatte said.
Top-selling
games like "Angry Birds" and "Temple Run" are already available on
Samsung devices, but Wee and Byatte said they are confident the
initiative will attract new, high-quality game content that will spark
the next big mobile game title on Samsung Apps.
© Thomson Reuters 2013